I like Disney movies. If you’ve gotten to know me much, you know this fact about me. One of my all-time favorites is Sleeping Beauty. I love the classic hand drawn animation of Sleeping Beauty, and Maleficent is my favorite Disney villain. I just really like Sleeping Beauty. If it’s been a while since you’ve seen it, I want to remind you of how it ends. Sleeping Beauty, or Aurora if you go by her real name, dances the night away with her betrothed, Prince Philip, the one who had helped to rescue her. As she’s dancing with him, swirling in her beautiful dress, the pink fairy, Flora, resumes a rivalry with the blue fairy, Merry-weather, over the color of Sleeping Beauty’s dress. Flora wants the dress to be pink. Merry-weather wants the dress to be blue.
The movie ends with Sleeping beauty dancing happily while her dress continuously changes color: pink, then blue, then pink, then blue. All the while the fairies are bickering, “make it pink”, “make it blue”, “make it pink”, “make it blue”.
I was thinking about this scene as I worked through the message this morning, and I kept thinking, “wouldn’t it be so much easier if we could just wave a magic wand and say, ‘make me holy’, and poof! just like that, I’m holy just as God is holy?” That certainly would be easier. No more struggling to give up my selfishness and the wants and desires of my “self”, no more sinful leaning, no more serious temptation, no more responding to situations in my human frailty; just holy as the Lord as holy, constantly hearing His voice and always acting as He would have me act.
But, there is no magic holy wand. No, “make it holy”. The surrendering of ourselves over to the control of the Holy Spirit is a life-long process. It is much more like the struggle between the pink and blue fairies, only with us, instead of drying to change the colors of a dress, we struggle over who will get control of our soul: ourselves or the Spirit? Even after we make the choice to completely surrender to Him, we have to keep walking in that choice, refusing to go back to living for self.
2 Kings 12 is where we’ll be today, and it’s an interesting look at this struggle. Last week’s passage was in the midst of Joram’s rule in the northern kingdom. This week we’re dealing with the southern kingdom, Judah, which had Jerusalem as its capital.
You can see on the screen the lines of kings, in the left column we have the kings of the southern kingdom, Judah, that we’ve seen so far. In the right column we have the kings of the northern, Israel, that we’ve seen so far. You’ll see all the way at the bottom of the left column a king named Joash. He is the king we’ll be looking at today.
There’s a bit of a sordid history surrounding Joash. Just quickly, his grandfather, Jehoram of Judah, married one of the daughters of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, whom many of us are familiar with. This daughter’s name was Athaliah. Their son Ahaziah became king of Judah when Jehoram of Judah died. Both Jehoram and Ahaziah did evil in the sight of the Lord, so the kingdom of Judah, through the king marrying the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, started to become just as evil as the kingdom of Israel in the north.
In the northern kingdom, Israel, God raised up a king that wasn’t from Ahab and Jezebel’s line, Jehu. He put to death every single member of Ahab and Jezebel’s line, not only in Israel, but in Judah as well. He killed the king in Israel, and he killed the king in Judah. Every single member of Ahab and Jezebel’s line was killed…except Joash, who was the son of Ahaziah, and the great grandson of Ahab and Jezebel. Joash was just a boy when his father Ahaziah was killed. His grandmother Athaliah briefly became queen before she was killed as well.
With every king in the books of 1 and 2 Kings, there is always an evaluation of that king. That evaluation of comes down to one thing with every king: either they did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, or they did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Let’s look at the way Joash is evaluated in 2 Kings 12.
“Joash did what was RIGHT in the eyes of the Lord all the years Jehoiada the priest instructed him. The HIGH PLACES, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there.” (vv. 2-3).
Even though Joash was in Ahab and Jezebel’s line, because he was instructed and guided by Jehoiada the priest, Joash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. As long as Jehoiada was alive, Joash did right.
There is a note here too though, that the writer of the books of Kings felt necessary to include, that Joash kept the high places. Joash didn’t worship foreign gods, didn’t worship Baal and Ashtoreth like his great-grandparents, but he didn’t remove the places where others could worship, and so the people continued to worship foreign gods and idols at those high places.
Even with that note, history records him as doing right in the eyes of the Lord because Joash didn’t worship false gods and idols.
2 Kings 12 continues and during this chapter we can see how Joash tried to repair the temple that Solomon had built because it had been plundered and had fallen into a state of disrepair during the years that the evil kings had reigned in Jerusalem. Again, we see him trying to do that which would please the Lord, as long as the priest was around to help guide him.
In the midst of Joash working hard to try to repair the temple, a foreign king set his sights on Jerusalem, “Then Hazael the king of Aram went up and fought against Gath and captured it, and Hazael was intent on going up against Jerusalem.” (v. 17).
Joash knew he was in trouble. Hazael’s name was fairly well known to him. 2 Kings 10:32 gives us this important information about Hazael, “In those days the Lord began to cut off pieces from Israel; and Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel:” in the verse just after this, we’re told that in this instance, Hazael cut off the lands that had belonged to the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and Manasseh. God used him in this way because the northern kingdom had forgotten the Lord and turned to foreign gods and idols.
Joash knew about Hazael’s conquests and victories over the northern kingdom, and when he learned that Hazael who had so far been victorious in every battle was looking toward Jerusalem, Joash began to be very concerned.
2 Kings 12:18 tells us what Joash did, “But Joash, the king of Judah, didn’t want to go to war. So he took all the sacred objects. They had been set apart to the Lord by the kings who had ruled over Judah before him. Those kings were Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah. Joash took the gifts he himself had set apart. He took all the gold that was among the temple treasures. He also took all the gold from the royal palace. He sent all those things to Hazael, the king of Aram. Then Hazael pulled his army back from Jerusalem.”
Joash was understandably concerned and worried about going to war with Hazael, who was a mighty conqueror. He had just started to rebuild and he was just starting to really grow into his role as king, and war with Hazael would have destroyed any progress Joash had made.
So to get Hazael to leave Jerusalem alone, Joash essentially bribed him. Bribing anyone for any reason is probably not the best choice, but Joash was desperately trying to do what he believed the right thing, which was to save Jerusalem.
The bribe consisted of all the sacred objects. Another translation says “sacred things”. What were these sacred things? I left a spot in your bulletin for that. The sacred things were things that had been set apart FOR the Lord by the three kings before Joash.
Now, we don’t know what those things are exactly, whether they were vases or plates or whatever…we don’t know. That information isn’t relevant to the passage. What is relevant, what is important, is that those things had been set apart for the Lord. Joash even took the sacred things he had set apart for the Lord.
He combined these sacred things with the rest of the gold from the temple treasures, and the gold from the royal palace, and those items were the bribe sent to Hazael.
We can see right away why this was a bad idea, right?
The line between right and wrong was a little more blurred for Joash. As far as he knew, he wasn’t taking the objects from the temple that were made for sacred use in the temple, so it wasn’t so bad. He wasn’t taking the gold items needed by the priests to serve the Lord, so maybe it was ok.
But the Scripture here makes a point of making sure that we know these were still sacred items that were set apart for the Lord, even if they weren’t going to be used in the service of worshiping the Lord.
Joash here was guilty of taking something that had been given to God, set apart, made holy, and turning it into something used for a common and even sinful use, something profane. This is not a place any of us want to be. And unlike with Sleeping Beauty, if we allow what was set apart for God to be used for something unholy, there isn’t a magic wand we can wave and say, “make it holy,” and find that it’s just magically holy again.
Let me make it a little clearer. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we set ourselves apart for the Lord. We say, “I am choosing to be Yours, to serve You with my life.” He gives us His Spirit to live in us and change us, to speak to us and guide us and purify us. He takes us and makes us holy.
So, when we offer ourselves to things that are not holy, the more we do this, the more we will find that it is hard to give ourselves back to the Lord and His Spirit to purify. The more we make the choice to ignore His voice, and instead we choose to listen to what our flesh desires, the harder it will be for us to make the choice to go back to listening to His voice.
I’ve seen this played out in my own life before, and I’ve seen it played out in the lives of those who once walked with Him. Now, the amazing thing is that God is powerful and mighty enough to forgive whatever we choose to profane ourselves with, but the danger is that we may get to a point where we don’t want Him to.
The lesson here through Joash’s example is that once you have offered something to the Lord to be His, don’t take it back and give it to some common use. If He has made it holy, don’t allow it to be made unholy.
I’ve listed three passages from Scripture that will help us stay on guard so we don’t follow Joash’s example.
Leviticus 10:1-3 says, “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on the fire and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.”
This passage will help us stay on guard by reminding us to be obedient to the Lord. In the case of Nadab and Abihu in this passage, they were offering a sacrifice to the Lord, but it was not something the Lord had commanded them to do. They died as a result.
Our disobedience to His commands won’t likely result in our immediate death, but disobedience to God’s commands makes us less sensitive to the voice and leading of the Spirit. So if we don’t want to walk in Joash’s path by giving what is holy for unholy purposes, we must OBEY THE LORD.
Deuteronomy 12:30-32 will help us as well, “be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from your presence, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ You shall not behave this way toward the Lord your God, because every abominable act which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take anything away from it.”
This passage will help us stay on guard by reminding us to WORSHIP GOD ALONE. That seems pretty self-explanatory, and at first glance we’d all probably say that we’re doing that. But as the Israelites learned and proved, idol worship is an easy trap to fall into. Idols for us look a little different now, but they are still idols. Here are some modern day “idols” we may find ourselves tempted to spend more time worshiping than the Lord: ourselves; money—having it, trying to get more of it, worrying about it; the idol of being entertained; the idol of sex; the idol of comfort; our phones; our families; our friends; a hobby or interest. There’s no shortage of things that are in our modern world that threaten to pull too much of our time, energy, and thoughts away from the Lord and the things of His kingdom.
But, when we worship God alone, and constantly redirect our time, energy, and thoughts back to the Lord, we’ll put ourselves in a position and posture to be able to better hear His voice when He speaks, and recognize His hand when He moves.
Romans 12:1-2 also helps us with this, “Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
This passage will help us stay on guard by reminding us to GIVE OURSELVES COMPLETELY TO THE LORD. Hold nothing back. Give Him everything: your mind, body, soul. Give Him your future so you can always walk with Him and give Him your past to redeem it. Give Him everything that You are and everything that you still will be. Surrender yourselves completely. Make the decision to tell God, “I’m Yours completely. You have control over my whole life.” And then don’t take that control back. Let Him have it for good. Don’t keep fighting His Spirit. Give Him the throne of your heart, and don’t try to get back on it.
It’s only when we give Him all of ourselves that He can work unhindered in our lives to do what He desires: to cleanse us and make us pure, to make us holy as He his holy, to guide us into all righteousness, to transform us and renew us, to deepen our relationship with the Father. This is what He desires to do, and so much more. But we get in the way. Paul says, it doesn’t have to be that way if we completely surrender.
If you’re tired of the struggle between self and the Spirit of God, if you’re tired of taking what has been set apart for the Lord and using it in ways that aren’t holy: be obedient to the Lord, worship God alone, and give yourself completely to the Lord. Walk in those processes, and you will find that the struggle becomes less, and His holiness in you will increase.
1. Which of the three processes of holiness do you find most difficult? Write down some specific struggles you have with that process.
2. Look up Hebrews 12:14. Why is holiness before the Lord so important?
3. 1 Peter 1:15-16 says, “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Holiness of our behavior is called for and a good sign of the fruit we bear. Consider Romans 12:1-2 again. How does this holiness of behavior start?